Posted
by
samzenpuson Thursday January 16, 2014 @04:04AM
from the glue-honey dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists at the University of Tasmania working with CSIRO have decided to use the latest sensor technology to help them better understand the behavior of thousands of bees. An RFID sensor has been attached with glue to the back of around 5,000 honey bees in Hobart, Tasmania. In order for that to work, shaving the area of the bee where the sensor would sit was necessary in some cases. Thankfully the bee was asleep during the process, and the sensor is small and light enough that they likely won't notice it is there. With the sensors attached, checkpoints can be setup around the area where the bees travel and pollinate in order to create a three-dimensional map of their movements."

So I've got a picture in my head of aliens doing this to us, and having this very same conversation about how we probably wouldn't notice. "Oh, hey bob... glad you're back! Gosh darn it, why'd you cut off your pony tail! and what's that thing sticking off the back of your head?"

I think almost all the serious scientific work in the academia is done by the graduate students working at below minimum wage (once you factor in all the working hours). I was one of the PIGS, and am proud of it.

As long as its one sensor per bee. I'd hate for them all to be glued together, no doubt forming mecha-bee-zilla capable of laying waste to entire towns. It's only at this point that people would realise that florists are our last line of defence.

You're assumingLogic can be used to understand Emotion Yeah, good luck with that !

Men tend to focus on the goal. Get in, get out, move on.Women tend to focus on the journey. Take their time enjoying the experience.

Why do some women love to shop for hours on end for new shoes*. Who the fuck knows -- but it must feel relaxing / good to them otherwise they wouldn't do it...

* Replace shoes with clothes, etc. Doesn't matter.

Another way to view it:

Men want SpaceWomen need Time

A man needs a man-cave so he can get away** and just putz around with his hobbies.A woman want you to spend time with them doing pointless shit like shopping for hours on end, gardening for hours, etc, or whatever her hobby is. She just wants you to spend time with her. Yes, we know you could optimize shopping via in--n-out-bam in 5 minutes. She doesn't care and thinks you're missing the point (journey).You think she's missing point (goal). Two diametrically opposed unspoken goals which usually ends up in an argument. Expectations are completely out of sync.

** Old engineer joke

An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress. The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship. The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because of the passion and mystery he found there.

The engineer said, "I like both."

"Both?" they asked.

Engineer: "Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done."

I would absolutely love to be part of that. Colony Collapse Disorder is investigated for a long time and is still not understood. What happens is that you have a healthy bee yard with many hives full of bees (50000 each hive) and you come back a week later and they are gone, except for the queens and a few workers. What happened? They did not leave voluntarily, not without the queen. There are no dead bees in front of the hive, like you would have with pesticide poisoning. There is not one virus or disease

Scientists Glue Sensors To 5,000 Bees In a Bid To Better Understand Them

See, this is why we need better documentation. I'm not sure why the scientists thought the bees would help (perhaps division of labor/hive mind or something?) but really, if the OEMs had made proper documentation for the sensors easily available, none of this would have been necessary.

Somewhere there's at least one person with "Bee Shaver" on their CV."We have a dire emergency, and we hear you're the best. There's a rare species of wasp invading the U.S. and we need to tag'em before we can bag'em.""Just tell me one thing: Where are the tweezers?"

Bees participating earlier in this study received lower numbered UIDs than later bees. Bees with greater karma and more points to spend modded down less popular bees. Divisions between bee populations and resulting flame wars erupted throughout the hive.